Picking up 20 years after the last "Tron" film left off, we follow Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), son of computer genius Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), who mysteriously disappeared when Sam was just a boy. Cut to present day, where Sam is all grown-up and and causing mischief for his dad's corporation, which is now run by greedy suits lacking the vision that Kevin Flynn had when he first started the company. Until one night, Sam receives a cryptic page from the closed-down arcade that once belonged to his father, and gets sucked into the same cyber-world where Kevin has been trapped for the last 20 years - a dangerous place where computer programs are forced against their will to participate in death matches for the pleasure of their despot, Clu. Will Sam survive long enough to find his father and make it back to the human world? Much like its 1982 predecessor, this movie primarily relies on glittery special effects to weave its tale. However, this modern update improves greatly on the now dated pre-CGI imagery of the original film. Director Joseph Kosinski creates a dazzling landscape of neon colors and sleek grids, where programs speed around on virtual motorcycles and hovercrafts that leave bright trails of light in their wake (all set to a seductive, pulsating electronica score by Daft Punk). Everything is a computer-generated marvel here, including Clu - a program that Kevin created to help him build a new utopian society - who is actually a digitized version of a young Bridges circa the 80's. Clu is now a power-hungry, vengeful perfectionist who hates his maker, and Bridges does a good job of humanizing him through his voice-acting - despite the limitations of CGI, which result in a rubbery-looking Clu with a finite range of facial expressions. On the other hand, Bridges lends some kitschy fun to the role of Kevin by playing him as a Zen, techie version of the Dude himself (Bridges un-ironically utters "Radical, man" in awe as he watches Sam perform a death-defying escape). The film is pure popcorn pleasure, but also tries to deliver a powerful message, eschewing the pursuit of perfection and instead focusing on learning to appreciate beauty in the world around you (a little cheesy in its naivete, but hey, it works for the story). Overall, this eye-candy paradise is geek heaven for the sci-fi lover and gamer alike.
3 out of 5 stars
Not to say it is a "must see" for your transatlantic flight to Boston. So easy going that you can actually get into deep sleep at the same time the neon motorbikes try to find the right path on this messy maze of kilobytes.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! It's funny that you mention that bc the night I watched it was after our last day in Boston and I was so tired after the long week that I fell asleep and missed the last 20 min! I had to finish watching it the next day :). Definitely not great but I still enjoyed the visuals.
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